French Taylor fitting John Bull with a Jean de Bry, cartoon
TitleFrench Taylor fitting John Bull with a Jean de Bry, cartoon
ReferenceFRAMED/117
Date
18 Nov 1799
Production date 1799-11-18 - 1799-11-18
Scope and ContentFrom Catalogue of political and personal satires preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum: vol 7
[Gillray.] Published Nov 18th 1799 by H. Humphrey. 2 St James's Street London, Engraving (coloured impression).
The corner of a tailor's fitting-room. A hideous and plebeian Englishman, fat and short-legged, and wearing a curled Brutus wig, looks at his reflection in an elaborately framed wall mirror crowned with a bonnet-rouge (l.). The tailor, a simian monstrosity standing behind him (r.), adjusts the sleeve of the coat. The coat (so styled after de Bry) has a high collar, is heavily padded, with full sleeves gathered at the shoulders, and is cut back into narrow tails. The boots have long pointed toes, the tops, with high tasselled peaks, projecting in front of the leg far above the knee. He stands on a large volume: 'Nouveaux Costumes'. The tailor is foppish, though wearing a bonnet-rouge with a long peak, long queue, ungartered stockings, and slippers. A tricolour measuring-tape is draped about him. He says: "A ha!—dere my Friend, Ifit you to de Life!-dere is Liberte-no tight Aristocrat Sleeve, to keep from you do, vat you like!-aha! begar, dere be only want von leetel National Cockade to make look quite a la mode de Paris!!" John Bull answers: "Liberty!- quoth'a!-why zound I can't move my Arms at all! for all it looks woundy big!-ah! damn your French Alamodes, they give a man the same Liberty as if he was in the Stocks!-give me my Old Coat again, say I, if it is a little out at the Elbows". On the wall (r.) is visible the l. portion of a framed plate of the official costumes of the Directory: in six compartments are tiny simian creatures inscribed respectively: 'Membre du Directo[ire]', 'Conseil des Anciens', 'Ministre, Conseil des 5 Cents', 'Juge –', ‘Administrat' .... Beneath is a framed oval containing 'Les Regies pour les Modes'; these end: 'Vive la Liberte'. A patterned carpet completes the design.
A satire on the ugliness of French fashions, combined with ridicule of the 'liberty' under which dress is the subject of legislation. The satire is extended to Jacobinical francophils.
[Gillray.] Published Nov 18th 1799 by H. Humphrey. 2 St James's Street London, Engraving (coloured impression).
The corner of a tailor's fitting-room. A hideous and plebeian Englishman, fat and short-legged, and wearing a curled Brutus wig, looks at his reflection in an elaborately framed wall mirror crowned with a bonnet-rouge (l.). The tailor, a simian monstrosity standing behind him (r.), adjusts the sleeve of the coat. The coat (so styled after de Bry) has a high collar, is heavily padded, with full sleeves gathered at the shoulders, and is cut back into narrow tails. The boots have long pointed toes, the tops, with high tasselled peaks, projecting in front of the leg far above the knee. He stands on a large volume: 'Nouveaux Costumes'. The tailor is foppish, though wearing a bonnet-rouge with a long peak, long queue, ungartered stockings, and slippers. A tricolour measuring-tape is draped about him. He says: "A ha!—dere my Friend, Ifit you to de Life!-dere is Liberte-no tight Aristocrat Sleeve, to keep from you do, vat you like!-aha! begar, dere be only want von leetel National Cockade to make look quite a la mode de Paris!!" John Bull answers: "Liberty!- quoth'a!-why zound I can't move my Arms at all! for all it looks woundy big!-ah! damn your French Alamodes, they give a man the same Liberty as if he was in the Stocks!-give me my Old Coat again, say I, if it is a little out at the Elbows". On the wall (r.) is visible the l. portion of a framed plate of the official costumes of the Directory: in six compartments are tiny simian creatures inscribed respectively: 'Membre du Directo[ire]', 'Conseil des Anciens', 'Ministre, Conseil des 5 Cents', 'Juge –', ‘Administrat' .... Beneath is a framed oval containing 'Les Regies pour les Modes'; these end: 'Vive la Liberte'. A patterned carpet completes the design.
A satire on the ugliness of French fashions, combined with ridicule of the 'liberty' under which dress is the subject of legislation. The satire is extended to Jacobinical francophils.
Extent1 framed item
Physical descriptionDimensions (H X W): 40cm X 30cm
Persons keywordGillray, James
Conditions governing accessOpen
Levelfile
Normal locationD Plan Chest Drawer 5 (Room 12)